Cactus Language Blog

Idiosyncrasies of the English Language

Posted by Sarah under English, Learning a language

Simon Ager, native English-speaker and language enthusiast, talks about the aspects of English that can easily confuse foreign learners

English is a language full of traps for learners. Just when you think how to pronounce a particular letter or combination of letters, you will then come across an exception or three. You might think you know what a particular word means, but will then see it has other meanings.

English spelling isn’t as irregular as it appears; in fact the majority of words are spelled in a more or less predictable way. The trouble is that some sounds can be written in a variety of ways, and that some letters, especially the vowels, have numerous possible pronunciations. Then there are the really irregular spellings which only gives you a vague idea of their pronunciation. Such irregular spelling is common in personal and place names, including Featherstonehaugh (Fanshaw), Holborn (Hobun), Leicester (Lester) and Worcester (Wooster), and some of the most frequently-used English words such as one, talk, why, right and thought.

Words containing gh and ough can be particularly tricky. It’s tough (tuff) and you cough (coff) and laugh (laf) at the same time, though (tho) if you thought you had got the hang of ough, how about chough (chuff), lough (loch), bough (baw), caught, which rhymes with bought, taught and nought, and yoghurt (yogurt)?

Another aspect of English that can be tricky to learn is the prepositions and multipurpose verbs like put and get. If you’re going to get something from the shops it means that you will buy something, but if you say “I get it” it means you understand it. Getting on with someone means you’re friendly with them, but getting on someone means that you’re climbing on top of them. You can get onto or get off a bus, train or horse, but you get into or get out of a car. If you get off with someone you have successfully chatted them up – this often happens while you’re getting out of your head (becoming drunk). If you are becoming very interested and/or enthusiastic about something, you could say you’re really getting into it, but getting in with people means that you are trying to become friendly or at least acquainted with them. These are just a few examples of the usage of the versatile word get.

English has hundreds of irregular verbs and some of the most frequently-used are the worst offenders, especially to be and to go. In fact the past tense of to go (went) comes from a different verb all together – to wend. Another tricky aspect of verbs is the numerous tenses, most of which are formed with auxiliary verbs such as to have and to be. For example: I go (present), I am going (present continuous/future), I went (imperfect), I have gone (perfect), I had gone (pluperfect), I will go (future), I will be going (future continuous), I will have gone (future perfect), I would go (conditional), I would have gone (conditional perfect), I would have been going (conditional perfect continuous), and so on.

About the author

Simon Ager has studied quite a few languages and has taught English in Taiwan. He currently runs a company that provides information and advice about languages mainly via the website www.omniglot.com.

Tags:English, language